The Case of the Missing FBI Profiler
by Yaraslava Rada
Summary: Just as the title says, although it's not your normal Kidnapping...


An: / As you all know: I don't own Spencer Reid. Oh how I wish I did. ;) But I don't. And I don't own Derek Morgan or Criminal Minds for that matter either. Sullivan is a made-up character of my own creation [as in I have no idea if he was the QB or not, hell they might have even introduced the real QB in the show, but for my purposes: Sullivan is the QB]. Enjoy the story. /

_"Talking fast on the edge of nothing." - Jesus and Marry Chain "Happy when it Rains"_

When he went missing, my life became Hell. Of course, it didn't start out at an instant Armageddon. It was a basically, normal morning. There were no strange vibes when the kid wasn't at work before I was; I didn't break a coffee cup or some other-such premonition of bad-things-to-come; No one thought anything was off with the empty chair that our local genius normally occupied.

Around noon, we found a case in Las Vegas. Boy-wonder still hadn't arrived at the office. I rang him once or twice and left him a message when he didn't pick up. However, Pretty-boy had been late quite a few times before (for various reasons including being at a support group) so it wasn't really something I was worried about. He could have woken up late this morning and was only now getting in the shower; he could have been reading and lost track of time; but he was probably on the train and with all the noise he couldn't hear his phone go off (I quite consciously ignored the fact that he put his phone on both ring and vibrate at all times, unless he was in a movie [in which he turned it to vibrate only]).

We waited an hour. Hotch called him again but this time it cut straight to voice-mail. Either the kid's phone died or he was going to be in some serious trouble when he got back. By this time Hotch was steaming. We decided we were going to go to Las Vegas and when Reid showed up he could work from Garcia's office.

But Reid never turned up.

Without the genius' mind we were at a disadvantage. Add to that our concern at his disappearance and it took us almost a third longer than it should have to solve the case. We were in Las Vegas for a whole week, during which we never heard from the aforementioned genius. After the second day of no-show, Hotch had Garcia go to Reid's house and see if maybe he were ill. He wasn't there, nothing seemed out of place, and there were no messages on his home phone. Hotch asked the team if there was somewhere he would go, maybe to be alone.

It was then that I realized that I knew next to nothing about my self-adopted little brother. Sure, he was a walking search engine and he loved to perform magic tricks for people but other then that I knew nothing. What is his favorite color? Where does he live? When is his birthday? Sure, I could look that up in his file, but where was the trust in that. What does he do wherever he lives? Can he cook? Where is his favorite café? Restaurant? What is his favorite type of coffee? Where does he hang out when he isn't with us, and not at home or in a café? Does he have any other friends besides the BAU? I know his mother is in a hospital and that he doesn't talk with his father, but does (or did) he have any siblings?

As it turns out I wasn't the only one who knew nothing about our favorite little genius. No one could think of one place he would go, or one thing he would do (besides drinking coffee and studying) if he had the time off.

We returned to Virginia, eight days after Reid didn't show up for work. When we had to call in my Baby Girl, I learned just how badly she felt about digging through my file.

"It's wrong."

"Garcia. It's Reid." Hotch replied immediately. "What if he's in trouble?"

"Just because he wasn't at home, doesn't mean he is in trouble. His car and his keys were gone and his cell wasn't at home either."

"And yet he didn't show up for work at all in the past week. For all intents and purposes he's a missing person."

"Then we should contact the police, we shouldn't be digging through his file like sneaky scum."

"Fine. Just take a look at his credit card record."

"He doesn't have one."

"What? Reid doesn't have a credit card? Then look into his bank account."

"Mmh…It hasn't been touched in the last week. The last day he used it was the day he didn't show up for work. He bought coffee at…the café near the train station…two hours before he was supposed to be in at work."

"He usually comes in early on Mondays, if he can help it. He likes to get a head start on his paper work for the week."

"If he was so close, why didn't he show?" I ask worriedly.

"Garcia. You get coffee there all the time right?" Hotch says ignoring my question.

"Yessir."

"So you know the workers pretty well? Go subtly ask them about Reid."

"But-"

"No buts. See if he met someone, or if something happened that day. Something out of the ordinary for him."

"Yessir." Penelope said as she stalked sulkily from her cave to the elevator.

"Good. Morgan and Elle, go to Reid's house and see if she missed anything. Ask the neighbors if anything seemed off."

"Yes sir." As we turn to leave I hear Hotch's final orders.

"Gideon, call the hospital Reid's mother stays in. See if anything happened, or even if Reid's there. JJ, talk to the police. Let them know a SSA is possibly missing."

"Of course."

SPENCEREID

_"Here we are going far to save all that we love" – Code Lyoko "A world without Danger"_

As it turns out my little brother is quite the neighbor-charmer. When we arrived at his apartment, I let Elle do the house searching. I didn't feel right looking through all of his things, so I decided to talk with the neighbors. They all had glowing comments about him. He was never rowdy (as 'we would expect from a boy his age' they made sure to point out many times). He hand delivered gifts to them for the holidays (like cookies on Christmas, flowers on mothers day, and tickets to the local amusement park for fathers day and memorial day). He even offered free tutoring sessions for the children in school (when he wasn't out of state, that is).

When I asked them about last Monday morning they replied that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. It was a dead end.

At this point I returned (disappointed and empty handed) to Reid's apartment where Elle sat stumped.

"There is nothing out-of-the-ordinary. Or at least what I would think of as out-of-the-ordinary for Reid."

"No hidden letters? No appointments on a calendar? No secret messages for us to find asking for help and giving us a clue?"

"Nada! And based on your reaction I'd say the neighbors were a bust, too."

"Yeah. But I did learn Reid can charm people when he wants to. He can't possibly be as socially awkward as we think he is. They all only have good things to say about him. I'll call Hotch and let him know we've got nothing."

"Wait…Did you check his car?" She asks making her way down the stairs.

"No…Reid took his keys with him and I don't know how to pick a lock." I say following her to the parking lot. We all know what Spencer's hunk of junk looks like, but it's not there. "Well, Reid took his car…but why?"

"Why is this boy such a mystery?" She asks spinning around in the lot one last time, hoping to see his car.

"I don't know Elle, I don't know…"

When we returned, Garcia was in the conference room telling Hotch, Gideon and JJ about the café.

"It's a mom-and-pop owned café and apparently they fell in love with Reid. They said that Reid is a sweet boy and then they continued on to tell me all about how they created a special coffee just for him called the SRS, which most people think stands for Seriously Rich and Sickeningly-sweet but really stands for Spencer Reid's Special. It's their already-delicious brew with cream, sugar, honey, and whipped cream. They talked forever about his coffee magic tricks and all the statistics he tells them about the coffee beans, and brewing procedures. I hardly had the chance to ask them about Monday, after which they proceeded to ask me where he was."

"And? What did they say? These two came up with nothing." Hotch says gesturing at Elle and me. I sent a glare his way. It wasn't my fault Reid didn't leave anything for us to find.

"Apparently he ran into an old friend and left with him."

"So he's just skipping out?" JJ asks shocked. "That doesn't sound like Reid."

"Or it wasn't an old friend." I say thinking about how a 12-year-old graduated from high school and continued on to college.

"What do you mean?"

"A twelve-year-old graduating from high school would piss anyone off."

"Can you access any camera's in the café area?"

"You are at the FBI headquarters. If there are camera's, I can access them."

"Good, get to it. Gideon, I'm assuming you didn't find anything?"

"No. His mother is safe, and he hadn't been called for anything but routine checkups."

"So another dead end. Well, we know it's not his mother, what about his father?"

"He and his old man don't talk." I say quickly trying to cut that route off.

"We should still check. I'm sure he would help his father if he were in trouble."

"Honestly? You know Reid, and from the way his neighbors talked about him, I'd say he'd help anyone if they were in trouble." I responded morosely.

"I hope not. Everyone cannot be a suspect. There has to be a clue. He can't have just disappeared off the face of the earth."

"Guys!" Garcia calls from her office. "I've got the cameras and the man. It's one of Reid's old classmates. A Mr. Brian Sullivan. Quarter Back of Reid's high school football team."

"The same football team that…"

"That what Morgan?" Hotch pressed.

"...that picked on Reid."

"That's not what you were going to say Morgan. We need to know everything."

"Who cares what I was going to say?" I say stubbornly. There's no need to bring up things that should just stay buried. The poor kid doesn't need every member of the team knowing his darkest secret.

"Look him up." Hotch says turning back to the matter at hand.

"Already on it. He lives at 2100 Meads Road in Norfolk, Virginia."

"Quite the was away from home, isn't he?"

"Show us the video. I want to get a feel for what happened." Hotch responds.

"Sure."

A clip begins playing. Reid is chatting with the owners of the Café when Sullivan comes up behind him. Sullivan gets Reid's attention shyly, hesitantly. Reid turns and happens to face the camera.

"Woah. Pause it. Go back a few frames and…Zoom in on Reid…" Hotch commands. For a split second Reid's face full of surprise and intense hate.

"That…is hate." Gideon says surprised.

"And yet…play it."

The scene continues. Reid smiles warmly and shakes the man's hand. Sullivan looks shocked but accepts it gratefully. Sullivan says something and Reid turns around to the owners. They exchange a few words and Reid leaves the café. He turns and waves to the owners before leaving their surveillance cameras.

"…He leaves with a guy he hates. Why?" I was just as surprised and curious as the rest. This is the guy that strung him up, naked, on the football field for all to see. Why would Reid leave with him? And that split second…if we hadn't been profilers who were examining Reid's every move for clues we wouldn't have even seen that instant of hate. It's entirely possible that guy had no idea that Reid still hated him. What is Reid up to?

SPENCEREID

"_Something has been taken from deep inside of me, a secret I've kept locked away no one can ever see…" – Linkin Park "Easier to Run"_

"Are there any other camera's in the area?" Hotch asks.

"Well, he took the train to get to work, but his car wasn't at his house so he had to go through the train stations to get back home…I could check there?"

"Do it. Check both stations, call us when you've got something." Hotch says before we all head to the conference room. There's a really late lunch (as it's now almost five) waiting for us. I sit and chew some food thoughtfully.

"Morgan, penny for your thoughts?" Gideon asks.

"I just don't understand it. Why would he go with Sullivan, a guy who he hates?"

"Maybe he said he wanted to talk with Spencer…"

"…and then what? Killed him? Kidnapped him? This guy might not even have anything to do with why Reid is missing. For all we know now, Reid didn't even go back home. Maybe he was mugged. Someone could have stolen his wallet, phone and keys, took the train to his house and stole his car. When we kept calling he turned the phone off, or dumped it somewhere." Elle says.

"There are too many possibilities if we go about it that way. Besides, its too much of a coincidence for him to go missing the one day someone disrupts his routine." Gideon replies shortly.

"Routine…" I say as my mind works itself into overdrive.

"Morgan, you don't think…?"

"Maybe this guy knew Reid's routine. Hotch, you said Reid likes to come in early on Monday mornings if he can. That would give this guy two hours before we would expect Reid in. But we all know Reid can be late sometimes, so another hour or so wouldn't raise any alarms."

"You're saying this guy spent weeks watching Reid to know his schedule. And Reid didn't notice a guy he hates following him around?" Elle says bluntly.

"You know how he feels about seeming to be paranoid." I reply as the phone rings. "It's Garcia."

"Guys! I've got both Reid and Sullivan at both train stations. And based on the time difference they didn't stop anywhere in between."

"Good, can you tell if they went to Reid's house or somewhere else?"

"Based on the camera's placed at the exits…they went in the direction of Reid's place."

"Are there security camera's in Reid's apartment complex?"

"I don't know…but I can check….yes there are. It looks like Reid and Sullivan didn't go up to his apartment. They got in his car, Reid was driving."

"This really looks bad for Reid…" I mumble to myself as I stab a piece of chicken. Why would he skip work to hang out with a guy he hates…and what happened between then and now?

"Can you track his cell phone signal?" Hotch asks.

"Negative, captain. It's off. The last known location was in Richmond. His car's GPS is a no-go as well."

"This is way too suspicious for him to have just walked off." I say, knowing what the others are thinking.

"Unless he didn't want to be found." Hotch says quietly.

"Why? What's his motive? He runs away with some asshole from high school. What does he get out of it?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell us why you're so dead-set on Reid truly hating this guy?"

"Why won't you just believe me?"

"It was a split second of hate; it might have been an unconscious emotion." Gideon says from his corner of the room.

"Trust me. Reid doesn't like Sullivan by any stretch of the imagination, no matter what his actions say." I had to convince them, "This is one of the guys that made 12-year-old Reid's high school experience a living hell. He had a girl lure Reid to the football field and then proceeded to string him up from the goal post for children to laugh at him. Oh and did I mention they stripped him naked first?" The silence that followed was satisfactory…yet I couldn't help but feel as though I had betrayed his trust. There was a reason he didn't tell anyone else.

"Okay. So Reid definitely didn't like this guy. Why, then, would he go with him? Drive away with him?" Gideon asks trying to get into Reid's mind.

"Maybe he claimed his car battery died. He was in a new city…Reid would have to go get his car, drive it to the place where the car died, and jump start the battery." Elle says logically.

"But would Reid really think he was the only one who could help him? He could have asked the owners of the café-" Hotch tries to refute.

"-They don't own a car," Garcia chirps.

"Okay, so he asked Reid. And Reid agreed. Did anything strange happen when they got to the train station?"

"Yeah. Reid had to convince him to get on the train." Garcia says playing the clip for them to see.

"That didn't take much convincing…" I mumble as the clip from beginning to end was only a minute or so long.

"Okay…he 'realized' Reid didn't have his car with him and tried to…tell him it was okay."

"Reid, being Reid, didn't let that stop him. He told Sullivan he would help so he would." I pipe in eagerly.

"They go to Reid's place, get his car and drive to where the car was. So what happens next?"

"The car isn't there. Reid turns to question Sullivan but he gets drugged." Garcia says solemnly.

"Garcia, what?"

"I thought I saw Reid mouth the words "South Street" and "Cranberry" directly at the camera."

"There goes his paranoia." I mumble thankfully, with a laugh.

"There happens to be a gas station on the opposite corner. I used their surveillance to see when Reid would have arrived. The car pulls up and there is about twenty seconds pause. Sullivan steps out and moves over to the driver's side. He opens the doors and moves a limp Reid to the back seat. He then gets into the front seat and drives away."

"So Reid was kidnapped." Gideon says.

"I told you. He wouldn't just up and leave." I say, glad I could finally predict something about my 'brother'.

SPENCEREID

"_You think you know me and everything you get a chance to see…" –Kerli "Fragile"_

It took two days of Garcia looking into Sullivan's recent past, and us digging through Reid's, before we found something solid. I was all for going straight to the guys house, busting down the door and tearing Reid out of there. But we needed solid proof to get a warrant. Garcia found, on the second day that Sullivan was in a support group. Later that day we learned the next step Sullivan was working on was to ask a person he wronged to forgive him. By that time however, the courts were closed and we had to wait until the next day. However, based on the information Garcia found and the camera footage we managed to get a warrant to search his house and permission to use force if necessary.

It was that day we flew down to Norfolk and found Mr. Sullivan's house. It was in a quiet neighborhood. Children played in their front yards unsupervised, families had cookouts for the whole neighborhood, and kittens and puppies roamed the streets without worry about animal control. All in all, it was a quaint place to live.

Our sirens stayed off, but we still drew attention from the neighbors. We were already suited up when we exited the SUVs. It was a two-story house, painted light blue with rusty red shutters. We moved silently and swiftly up the brick walk, which was lined with flowers. A dead tree sat in the front yard, probably struck by lightning years ago. The bushes that fortified the front of the house were circular with the two on the end being square.

As we moved into position, I took point. When Hotch signaled I kicked the door in with more force then necessary.

"FBI!" Hotch called as we entered, guns pointed into the house.

Sullivan stood in the doorway to the kitchen. Naturally I tackled him before he could go for a knife, gun or some other sort of weapon. He gasped trying to get oxygen back into his lungs.

"Where is he?" I asked as I slam him against the floor. He put up no pretenses and answered quickly.

"Top of the stairs, last room on the right." Sullivan said, slipping a key from his pocket. I snatched it up and left Sullivan to Hotch and Gideon.

I found Reid locked away in a very nice suite-like room. It held a California king sized bed; a dresser without handles; a desk with paper and a hunk of graphite; bookshelves that lined the walls from ceiling to floor, corner to corner, stocked with books from J.K. Rowling to Stephanie Myers to Dickens to Hawthorne to authors whose names I couldn't even read (as they were in foreign languages). In the bathroom there was a huge bath with jets and numerous kinds of soaps, shampoos, oils, bath salts, lotion, and incense of all scents. Hell, there was even a tanning bed in the bathroom! For a kidnapping this was pretty strange. The UnSub went through so much trouble to keep Reid 'happy'. Look at the room he gave him, I mean talk about luxury and comfort!

"Come on Kid, let's go," I said. He stood but didn't make any move to come with me. He shuffled from foot to foot awkwardly almost self-consciously. I took a moment to take in the sight of my brother.

Reid looked stress-free, well fed, and extremely bored, but I could tell he was anxious. His skin looked darker then I remembered and he wore kaki shorts with a white shirt that was only halfway buttoned up. A black necklace of some sort rested on his neck and when I looked back at the door and windows I realized what it was: the reason why he wouldn't follow me out the door. I growled.

"It's okay Morgan. It's okay." Reid said. "Just get this thing off of me."

"Why haven't you ripped that thing off yet, Reid?" I asked moving over to him.

"I can't."

"Why not?" I said, but as reached for it Reid jumped away.

"I can't. And neither can you without a screwdriver."

"That material can't be that thick."

"You don't think I tried that? It's a…relatively new model." He said swallowing. "It's designed to shock the animal wearing it in three cases. One: if they leave the area enclosed by the sensors. Two if the owner presses a button, and three if the animal tries to pry it off." Reid said as he moved into lecture mode while making his awkward hand gestures. Now, I see the actions for what they are: him trying to distance himself from what had happened, before I would have thought he was trying to be smart.

"I'll put a shock collar on _him_, the bastard!"

"Really, Morgan. Just get me a screwdriver. There should be one in the closet across from this room."

"Flathead or Philips?" I asked from across the hall.

"Philips."

"Here ya go." I handed him the screwdriver, as he seemed skittish at any contact. He quickly unscrewed the collar and tossed it to the floor. For good measure I stepped on it. He moved over to the desk and grabbed a paperclip.

"Morgan! How is he?" Hotch called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Reid's fine! The bastard put a-"

"Morgan!" Reid yell-whispered. I remembered I already told the team about his childhood, there was no need for me to tell them about this too. "I'm fine Hotch! Just let me get my things and I'll be down in a minute!" He said as he went out into the hall. I saw him flinch as he passed through the doorway, but I didn't say anything.

"Where are your things?" I asked him as I followed him from the room.

"Here," he said pulling a locked box from the closet. He quickly and efficiently used the paperclip to unlock the box. Inside rested his go-bag, phone, shoes, and clothes (including undergarments) all washed and neatly folded. "I'm going to change. Tell Hotch I'll be down in a second." He said retreating to the room he was stuck in for the last eleven days.

I made my way down the stairs and Hotch looked over my shoulders trying to catch sight of Pretty-boy.

"He's getting dressed."

"That bastard left him naked?" Elle asked angrily.

"No, Reid just wanted to wear his own clothes." I said. "But I wouldn't mind getting my hands on that bastard. He is quite the weirdo. Reid had everything he could have wanted in that room. Food, water, a shower, soaps, books, paper…"

"So why didn't Reid leave? Did he not want to?" Gideon asked voicing the question I knew was on their minds.

"No. Reid was…convinced staying in that room was in his best interests." I replied hopefully quelling any traitorous thought towards my little brother. "Have you figured out why the bastard kidnapped him?"

"I think I can answer that." Reid said from the top of the stairs. Immediately three pairs of eyes snap to him.

"You look…well…" Hotch said almost surprised, like he didn't believe Reid when he said he was fine.

"I told you I was fine. Sullivan wanted me to forgive him." Reid started. "He was immensely sorry for all the pain he caused me. But when I told him I couldn't forgive him, he decided to 'convince' me that I should forgive him. He knocked me out and locked me up in that room. He decided to keep me here until I forgave him. Sullivan took all my personal belongings, turned off my phone, and locked it all in a trunk which he placed across the hallway." Reid explained. "Sullivan is crazy, he didn't realize that trying to force me to forgive him wouldn't make me forgive him."

"Well, we've got him now Reid."

"I know…"

"Kidnapping a federal agent is-"

"-is worth life in prison. I know."

"You'll be fine, kid."

"I know, I know. Just…lets get out of here. I'm absolutely fine. If anything I'm better now then I was before I was kidnapped." He said shouldering his go-bag.

"If you say so." I said, just happy my brother was okay.

"Did you guys happen to find my car?" Reid asked as we all loaded into the vans and made our way to the airport. "I have no idea where Sullivan put it…"

"No Reid. Sorry. The GPS was out…" Reid pouted for a while, but not another mention of Sullivan or kidnapping was made again. When we got on the plane I decided it was time to pepper my brother with some pressing questions.

"So, pretty-boy. What's your favorite color?"


End file.
